Got up early around 7am and took a shower and witnessed actual blue sky and a smidge of sunshine! By 8:30 it was overcast and raining again so I’m glad I was up early. The weather literally changes every hour or so.
Tried a new boulangerie today – their croissants are better than the other place we all agreed – which is saying something!
We were planning to go to Carnac today to see the menhirs (standing stones), but we stopped at the tourism office in our town and got a ton of great information from the people who work there who were incredibly nice and spoke excellent English. They mentioned that there was a pottery show going on in the nearby town of Sarzeau where there is also a very well restored 13th Century chateau called Suscinio. So we decided to go, since Nancy and I both love pottery and I’ve never seen a chateau.
The drive was really short and pretty to the chateau. We started out perusing the pottery show, which was outside in a field not far from the chateau. There were probably 15-20 vendors, mostly from Brittany with a few from England and other parts of France. I bought a small rustic pitcher that is very Breton in style and is a very pale shade of celadon green; had a nice chat with the potter who wanted to practice her English and had been to New York. She was very excited that her pottery was going to go on a plane to the US. Nancy and I both bought items from another vendor, a woman and her husband, who had beautiful turquoise/teal pieces in traditional styles/shapes. I got a pitcher, Nancy got a bowl and a pitcher. There were a number of other potters who had really creative and beautiful items – especially one guy who had these enormous and painstakingly decorated teapots.
After spending all our cash we headed for the creperie in town – Jim and I both had the galette with scallops and leeks, Nancy had galette with seafood and scallops. Both were very good. Nancy skipped desert but Jim and I both had the crepe with apples and caramel which was excellent.
The chateau was very impressive. It is built very near to the ocean surrounded by tidal marshes and its moat contains sea water. The building was very run down and since the 1970s has been lovingly restored by the regional government, no doubt with major support from the national government, to the tune of millions. After touring the grounds we watched an excellent film on the restoration process, which highlighted how 13th/15th Century tools and techniques were used when possible to restore the chateau. The wind was amazingly strong as we finished up our visit and drove out to the beach to see the ocean. The surf was incredible, sand was flying past our car, as we watched a group of para-sailors spinning and flying through the air. We were very glad that the sun decided to stay with us for most of the day!
We headed back to camp for a quick dinner of spaghetti and salad. I’m sitting in the bar down the street from our campground, using their free wifi to post and catch up on news (including the apparent downfall of the Rupert Murdoch empire – huzzah!). Need to get going though – it’s close to 11pm and the smoke is getting to me a bit…I will try to post more in the next few days but I may need to spend my downtime packing pretty soon – sad!
Photos here.
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